faculty member

“Nutritional psychology”; gut-brain axes; Metabolism, Pediatric and maternal nutrition; Teenagers’ nutrition, Healthy guided nutritional education, Diet-Mental health, personalized science-based Nutrition.    

Dr. Nimri Kittan is a lecturer and a researcher in nutritional science department. She holds a PhD, M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Nutritional Sciences from The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She did her Post doctorate at The Lipid Research Laboratory, Technion -Israel Institute of Technology, Rappaport Faculty of Medicine. Project title: Pro-atherogenic and pro-oxidant crosstalk between adipocytes and macrophages. The project was supervised by Prof. Michael Aviram. Another Post doctorate project was hold in the Laboratory of Nutrition and Human Health, MIGAL-Galilee Research Institute. Project title: The association between dietary, mental-health and metabolite profiles in Israeli Arab youth: a groundwork for a novel nutritional tailored intervention. The project supervised by Prof. Snait Tamir and Dr. Omer Horovitz.

As a nutritional researcher and clinical dietitian Dr. Nimri Kittan have a great enthusiasm for research enterprise in the fields of “Nutritional psychology”; gut-brain axes; Metabolism, Pediatric and maternal nutrition; Teenagers’ nutrition, Healthy guided nutritional education, Diet-Mental health, personalized science-based Nutrition.    

1. The Association between maternal prenatal psychological stressors, Mediterranean diet adherence to infant birth indices, bacterial profile in infant’s meconium and short chain fatty acids profiles in umbilical cord blood. (In collaboration with Dr. Omer Horovitz, Tel-Hai college, Iyad Jahshan MD. and Elias Nasrallah MD., Saint Vincent de Paul Hospital).
2. Energy Drinks Consumption among Israeli-Arab adolescents living in Northern Israel and its impact on their glycemic response, blood pressure and psychological responses. (In collaboration with Dr. Omer Horovitz, Tel-Hai college and Bshara Mansour MD., Saint Vincent de Paul Hospital).
3. Energy drink consumption and psychological indices among Israeli-Arab adolescents (In collaboration with Dr. Omer Horovitz, Tel-Hai college and Bshara Mansour MD., Saint Vincent de Paul Hospital).

“Scientific writing and informatics” (for B.Sc. students-2nd year) “Dietetics” (for B.Sc. students-3rd year) “Healthy Human's Nutrition” (for B.Sc. students-2rd year) and “Nutrition in Community” (for B.Sc. students-3rd year).

2007: Dean's Honors list. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

2008-2011: Honors Scholarship for master’s degree students. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

2008-2009: Research stay at University of Hohenheim during October 2008-February 2009, supervised by Prof. Dr. Lutz Graeve (UHOH Institute of Biological Chemistry and Nutrition) and Prof. Dr. Betty Schwartz (HUJI Dept. of Biochemistry, Food Science and Nutrition). Grant provided by the Baden-Württemberg Stiftung (formerly Landesstiftung)

2010: Second prize in a faculty poster contest, from The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

2012: Na’amat organization grant for PhD. female students.

2012-2016: Ariane de Rothschild scholarship for excellent PhD. female students.

2013-2015: Robert H. Smith’s scholarship for excellent PhD. students from The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

2013-2016: Planning and Budgeting committee scholarship for excellent PhD. Students from the Arab society in Israel.

2017: The Dimitris N. Chorafas Foundation Prize in Life Science and Medicine.

2018: Outstanding lecturer certification in the Nutrition sciences department, Tel-Hai Academic collage. 2019-present: Zvi Yanai scholarship for post-doc fellows from the Arab society in Israel.  2019-2020: Internal grant from Tel-Hai Academic college 

2021: Internal grant from Tel-Hai Academic college 

2022: Grant from Israel Society for Clinical Pediatrics 

1. Lavi I, Levinson D, Peri I, Nimri L, Hadar Y, Schwartz B. Orally administered glucans from the edible mushroom Pleurotus pulmonarius reduce acute inflammation in dextran sulfate sodium-induced experimental colitis. Br J Nutr. 2010; 103:393-402. 
2. Lavi I, Nimri L, Levinson D, Peri I, Hadar Y, Schwartz B. Glucans from the edible mushroom Pleurotus pulmonarius inhibit colitis-associated colon carcinogenesis in mice. J Gastroenterol. 2012; 47:504-18.   
3. Nimri L, Barak H, Greave L, Schwartz B. Restoration of caveolin-1 expression suppresses growth, membrane-type-4 metalloproteinase expression and metastasis-associated activities in colon cancer cells. Mol Carcinog. 2013 ;52:859-70.   
4. Yehuda-Shnaidman E, Nimri L, Tarnovscki T, Kirshtein B, Rudich A, Schwartz B. Secreted human adipose leptin decreases mitochondrial respiration in HCT116 colon cancer cells. PLoS One. 2013 ;8:e74843. 
5. Nimri L, Saadi J, Peri I, Yehuda-Shnaidman E, Schwartz B. Mechanisms linking obesity to altered metabolism in mice colon carcinogenesis. Oncotarget. 2015 ;6:38195-209. 
6. Nimri L, Spivak O, Tal D, Schälling D, Peri I, Graeve L, Salame T-M, Yarden O, Hadar Y, Schwartz B. A recombinant fungal compound Ostreolysin, induces anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic effects on colon cancer cells. Oncotarget. 2017 ;8 :28854-28864. 
7. Oren T, Nimri L, Yehuda- Shnaidman E, Staikin K, Hadar Y, Friedler A, Amartely H, Slutzki M, Pizio AD, Niv MY, Peri I, Graeve L, Schwartz B. Recombinant ostreolysin induces brown fat-like phenotype in HIB-1B cells. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2017 ;61(9). 
8. Nimri L, Solodki K, Peri I, Yehuda-Shnaidman E, Schwartz B. Ostreolysin induces browning of adipocytes and ameliorates hepatic steatosis. J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2018 Dec;33(12):1990-2000. 
9. Nimri L, Claudia Grajeda-Iglesias, Nina Volkova, and Michael Aviram. Pro - atherogenic and pro - oxidant crosstalk between adipocytes and macrophages. Eur J Nutr. 2019 Mar;58(2):879-893. 
10. Nimri L, Peri I, Yehuda-Shnaidman E, Schwartz B. Adipocytes Isolated from Visceral and Subcutaneous Depots of Donors Differing in BMI Crosstalk with Colon Cancer Cells and Modulate their Invasive Phenotype. Transl Oncol. 2019 Aug 7;12(11):1404-1415.